Ep 9 - Reflections on Running and Gender

For many people, running is not just a healthy exercise, but an integral activity in the rhythms of their everyday lives. More than this, running has become a ubiquitous, culturally-meaning practice within modern capitalist societies. The omnipresence of running images, symbols and representations within sporting and social media is a testament to its power and ubiquity within at least North American popular culture. Running, however, is a complex, contentious running practice. Class, race, gender, sexuality, space and nationalism, to name only a few, intimately shape people’s ordinary running experiences. In this episode of Somatic, we talked with Katie Esmonde, PhD candidate in Physical Cultural Studies at the University of Maryland, about her experiences with running, specifically within urban spaces. We asked Katie to record herself running as part of her everyday exercise routine. We then interviewed Katie days after her run, and asked her to reflect on the experience, using her research and scholarly insight on exercise as a critical lens. The result is an immersive episode in which you hear the sounds and ambient soundscape of someone running, with discussion and original music interwoven throughout.